Scenario III: Trade them for an NBA player
There are several teams who need draft help but have no first round pick. Such teams are the Brooklyn Nets, the Washington Wizards, the New York Knicks, the Houston Rockets, and even the Dallas Mavericks.
Of this group, the most obvious team in need are the Brooklyn Nets. But the team has fallen upon hard luck, and are themselves trying to rebuild a team while virtually all of their draft picks benefit other teams. That scenario is all too familiar to Sixers fans.
But the Nets have some young players with some talent, if they wish to gamble a little. A young shooting guard like Bojan Bogdanovic may be a precious player to the Nets, but he is splitting time with recently signed Sean Kilpatrick, and the Nets need picks. The Philadelphia 76ers would be foolish not to consider dealing one of the late firsts for the player who put up 44 points against the Sixers on a career night.
Another team with some potential for trades could be the Washington Wizards. They have a fairly complete starting lineup, but with a bench with mid career veterans, they might be tempted to exchange some pricier vets for the chance at one or two inexpensive rookies to develop.
Both the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets are curious teams as well. Perched at limbo – playing at or just better than .500 ball, they are too good to get good draft picks and too bad to make noise in post season. While neither a 24 nor a 26 team can fix that this year, it would be a wise strategy to bring in youth to grow while the team works on making a run down the road.
Next: Scenario IV